Owner of 16-Unit Hell’s Kitchen Rental for Four Decades Sells For $12M

Hubb NYC Properties, a Midtown-based real estate investment firm, has purchased a 16-unit rental apartment building at 714 Ninth Avenue for $12.1 million from Waltjoyvan LLC, which has owned it since Gerald Ford was president, Commercial Observer has learned.

Waltjoyvan LLC is company owned by private investors Walter and JoyceSteckman, to CoStar Group. Waltjoyvanhas owned the property since the late 1970s, according to David Chera of Kassin Sabbagh Realty, who handled the deal for both sides of the transaction.

“Long-term ownership was looking to capitalize on the state of the market,” Chera, who brokered the transaction with colleague David Marciano, told CO via an email.

The 9,500-square-foot building between West 48th and West 49th Streets has a 2,500-square-foot retail space at ground floor, which is occupied by DSquared Café.

Rents at building for one-bedroom, one-bathroom units in the property can be priced as high as $2,600 a month, according to listing website StreetEasy. The five-story building also has roughly 4,000 square feet in unused air rights,

Hubb NYC Properties was interested in buying the building because “Hell’s Kitchen had undergone rapid gentrification in recent years and NinthAvenue is at the heart of it with its unique restaurants and lively bars,” Chera said.